One of the first English books of great value was the "Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle," a history covering a period beginning 1 A.D. and ending in
1154. The work was probably written by the monks in Canterbury,
Peterborough, and other monasteries. It may be considered as an
annual register of iportant events. Thorpe says of it, "No other
nation can produce any history written in its own vernacular, at all
approaching the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" either in antiquity,
truthfulness, or extent, the historical books of the Bible alone
excepted."
Though written in prose, it countains various fragments of poetry, of
which the following (rendered into modern English), on the death of
Edward the Confessor (1066), may be quoted as an example:
"Then suddenly came On Harold's self,
Death the bitter A noble Earl!
And that dear prince seized. Who in all times
Angels bore Faithfully hearkened
His steadfast soul Unto his lord
Into heaven's light. In word and deed,
But the wise King Nor ever failed
Bestowed his realm In aught the King
On one grown great, Had needed of him!"
Other early books were Caedmon's poem of the Creation, also in
English, and Bede's "Church History" of Britain, written in Latin, a
work giving a full and most interesting account of the coming of
Augustine and his first preaching in Kent. All of these books were
written by the monks in different monasteries.